[ male announcer ] engine light on? come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. i guess we're done. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman. "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. good morning. our "starting point." stunning revolutions in court

about testosterone, tantrums, and how oscar pistorius' girlfriend is killed. the defense is starting to poke holes in some details. live from south africa in a moment. and a developing story this morning. rescuers going through the rumble -- excuse me, the rubble of a kansas city restaurant after explosion injures 14 people. one person is missing. new this morning, a winter storm brewing, hitting california and soon millions across the entire country will feel the xhekts. live team coverage. as china denies any involvement in the chhacking of american companies. a cnn crew chased by a company in shanghai. a live report. topping business news, is apple's shine fading? google taking over wall street. is it now time to buy? >> wednesday, february 20th. "starting point" begins right now.

welcome, everybody. "starting point" this morning is the oscar pistorius case. we could hear in the olympic tax star accused of murdering his girlfriend will be allowed to get bail. an investigator says he does not oppose bail. that comes in day two of the bail hearing. first officer on the scene testified he believes pistorius' actions were in no way self-defense. he conceded there were no signs of an assault on reeva steenkamp's body. no indications they had defended herself. he said two boxes of testosterone and needles were found. the defense saying that wasn't testosterone, a legal, herbal medication. and new details coming to light on what happened before the shooting. rob

robyn kurnow breaking down some of the developments for thus morning. >> reporter: what's happening in describing what's there. what's happening in that courtroom, and she tells me oscar pistorius is looking more confident. sitting upright. we chatted over the past few days. he has often been bent forward, cradling his head in his arms, perhaps good reason he is looking more confident. sitting more upright. his defense team is simply been shredding some of the evidence given by the investigating officer. you labeled and you describe some of these discrepancies in his testimony, but i think what is also important is that there was this issue around so-called ammunition, they said they would bring new charges, that there was unlicensed ammunition, it turns out that the police didn't even keep it. didn't photograph it, and it turns out according to the defense that this ammunition was

oscar's father's. all along, oscar pistorius has said that he killed his girlfriend thinking she was an intruder when she went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. reeva's bladder was empty. this is consistent with his line of events. >> robyn curnow reporting for us from south africa. many questions. right to mickey sherman. author of "how can you defend those people" a criminal defense attorney for people like michael skakel. nice to have you with us. >> good to be here. >> if we can talk about the big developments in this case, reports of testosterone. that is now some kind of herbal remedy according to defense attorneys. number two the position of the toilet which is relevant because testimony on how the door was shot through.

if you were going to hit the toilet, would you have to shoot at an angle and aim essentially at the toilet. and number three, have you past bad acts. i guess if you were a lawyer would you call them. the prosecutor talking about the background of oscar pistorius. walk me through. let's start with number one. the test tost are oosterone. which may not be testosterone. >> this is not lance armstrong this is a severely disabled person, even if he is an athlete. >> how about the angle of the shot into the bathroom? this is relevant. what the prosecutor is describing is that if you were trying to shoot at a burglar who you thought was in your bathroom, you would sign, and if you try to hit someone on the toilet, would you have you have

direction. >> the middle of the night, he's obviously shaken up, he's shocked, doesn't know who is in the bathroom, i don't think you can hold him to someone of the same standard walking down the street at noon. he is totally terrified. you either believe that or don't believe it. >> the prosecutors have raised a couple of bad acts there is an issue with a gun at a restaurant and oscar pistorius had someone else take the blame for that we know earlier reports of some kind of -- i think they have been calling it domestic incidents in the home. >> show me a person not involved in a domestic incident, violence or something else. everybody fights for thewith th girlfriend, shousgirl girlfriend's house. >> i have never had police come

to my house because of an incident. i will go out on a limb and say berman or christine hasn't either. >> is there a girlfriend for pistorius? is there a boyfriend for the young lady who died? that kin d of a shoe that drops. >> you say what exactly happening, you say that it's everything happening outside of that one night? >> yes. does he have a history. so far, the history is extraordinarily minimal and not damning at all. and a history of being a hero. a here york a man who overcame such incredible handicap. >> does it hurt his case or help his case if you have someone who say hero. so interesting to follow the debate on twitter over this i think. people who immediately believe him and people who think he must be guilty. >> you're too young to remember,

but -- we'll get that limo back. in 1977, a beautiful woman, married to annie williams, the sunger. she was dating spooyder savage. in the middle of the night, she goes up, shoots him, kills him. everyone criticized him. she went to trial. the jury found her not guilty of everything except one misdemeanor. the judge apologized to her, and gave her a $250 fine and a 30-day jail sentence. virtually the same facts you see here. it's a popularity contest. the trial not dissimilar to the fifth grade class president election if they like him it will be okay. >> they like the victim in this case. that's the other part here. have you a very beautiful, very -- with a lot of potential

young woman who is dead and no question here that he killed her. it's what kin of death was this? murder or something less than that? >> and the day here in south africa is very different. we're talking about a judge that will be the decider in the popularity contest. >> for lawyers in america, it's tough for to us get our arms around it. we choose judges in very rare cases. but what bothers me a little bit. we have the presumption of innocence, yesterday, the judge did not allow bail because he couldn't rule out -- not rule in, but rule out the possibility that this was premeditated. >> we'll see if he does, in fact, allow bail. we will see if he is okay with bail. we'll ask you to stick around with us all morning as we sort of maneuver our way through different legal angles. we appreciate that. we want to get to a story

that's developing. desperate search for one person still missing. a gas explosion that leveled a popular restaurant. the roofs blown off of j.j.'s restaurant. it felt like an earthquake. they could smell gas well before the explosion. more than a dozen people injured. kansas city's mayor and the fire chief spoke to us on "early start." they found one of two people unaccounted for. >> there is now only one missing person, we were able to locate fire chief was able to locate the other person at about midnight at a local hospital. they had driven -- managed to get into the hospital. there is a missing employee of j.j.'s at this point. >> cnn's ted rowlands live in kansas city. what is the latest on the investigation? >> good morning, soledad. the explosion took place after 6:00 last night at a very

popular restaurant in kansas city. a restaurant now completely demoli demolished. the explosion which witnesses say could be felt blocks away, instantly engulfed j.j.'s restaurant, sending debris, including glass and bricks through the air. flames towered into the sky. >> we felt our building shake two blocks down and we thought a car ran into our apartment. >> reporter: reports of smells of gas hours before the explosion. several people in the restaurant evacuated just minutes before the blast. the cause is still under investigation, but according to the gas company, a contractor doing underground work may have struck a natural gas line. after the fire was put out, dogs were brought in this case there were additional victims. >> i would always fear there are fatalities in a situation like this. when we got to the scene, we had a fully involved restaurant that

had patrons, several patrons inside at the time incident. that's why we're here searching as we are. >> reporter: the injured range from people who were hit by flying debris to those who suffered severe burns and are fighting for their lives. the search for the unaccounted employee will resume when the sun comes back up in kansas city. they want to bring in heavy equipment to move the debris and bring in the cadaver dogs. soledad. >>rorowlands, thank you very much. happening now, live on testers, live protesters demonstrate in front of the parliament in fwrooegreece. two big unions. one representing the public sector, other the private sector. they are upset with austerity measures that have been imposed

by international creditors. a large section of the southwest under a winter storm watch. starting to snow in california. heavy snowfall expected all the way to arkansas. in the southern california mountains, up to a half foot of snow is expected. our casey wian is there this morning. joins us live from cajon junction. >> it's clear right now, john. gotten colder when i talked to you an hour or so ago. not snowing. you can see behind me some snow moving equipment going to higher elevations and this caltrans worker, making sure that people who head up to higher elevations, we're at 3,100 feet. anyone going higher needs to have chains or a four-wheel drive vehicle. we just heard him tell a motorist they will reopen the road in a half hour or some of intermittent road closures on major interstates in southern

california overnight. but it seems the snow has pretty much left southern california. and the bulk of this storm that the middle part of the country is so worried about is headed out toward arizona and that's where the significant precipitation is going to be. basically a nuisance is what this storm has turned out to be. >> will it be more than a nuisance across the rest of the country? let's get to jennifer delgado, tracking this winter storm system. >> casey gets the easy part of the storm. it's moving toward the east and what it's doing, bringing mountain snow to the four corners, and also talking about big snow setting up across the central plains and parts of the midwest. some of the locations, more than a foot of snow coming down, plus we're talking freezing rain and some of what freezing rain accumulating.

oklahoma to interstate 40 and south of interstate 70. you can see where the freeze line is, a lot of rain down toward the south. expecting severe storms to pop up later today. a slight chance. that will be impressive. more than a foot of snow. and some of the winds kicking in overnight into tomorrow morning, that's where we'll see the worst of the weather. you combine in a a quarter to 3/4 inch freezing rain, that will lead to power lines and trees coming down. >> a dangerous amount of freezing rain. war lren lee hill has grant a stay of execution for the twice convicted killer hours before he was scheduled to die. they will consider the level of hill's intellectual disability you yous. he has an i.q. of 70.

jesse jackson jr. will be in a washington, d.c. courtroom where he is expected to plead guilty to misusing campaign funds. he took more than $750,000 from his campaign coffers and spent it on personal items, like furniture, clothing, memorabilia and a $43,000 rolex watch. jackson's wife -- >> wow. >> wow indeed. sandra stevens jackson, jesse jackson's wife will make her own court appearance this afternoon, she will plead guilty to firing false tax returns. apple was hit by the same computer hacker who's targeted facebook. the computers of some workers were infected when a visiting website containing malicious software, the same malware launched cyber attacks last month. it appears no internal data stolen. a lot of places getting hit. >> can we go back to the $42,000

rolex. i didn't know you could buy a rolex for $42,000. >> lawyers say they have never seen abuse like this with campaign funds. >> always bad when lawyers say that. china denies it hacked american companies, a cnn company chased by security in shanghai. leave report from that secretive nation, up next. and a look at business news. >> battle of the tech giants. can the search engine keep this momentum? ful discovery. the sweet realization that you have a moment all to yourself. well, almost. splenda® no calorie sweetener. splenda® makes the moment yours™.

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we told you yesterday, this building is the report of a focus of a cyber security firm mandia mandiant. a hacking collective has stolen data from 141 organizations from around the world since 2006. cnn crew tried to roll their cameras through that neighborhood, and this is what they discovered. this is our crew being chased by chinese security officers. david mackenzie live in shanghai with more. walk me through exactly what happened when you tried to get access to that building? >> reporter: soledad, the security officers did say that we shouldn't be filming there. they said it was a military installation of some kind. we got closer with the camera, they outran the vehicle and had a relatively cordial chat. demanded footage, and then we were on our way. the bigger picture is what is happening here? shanghai is the epicenter of the

virginia-based security center of a major hacking ring. tens if not hundreds of hackers working in those buildings they say. attacking corporations. institutions, governments, particularly in the u.s. and stealing information. the this group is working in conjunction with the military and chinese government. not surprisingly, the chinese government says they had nothing to do with this and call these claims "irresponsible." the chinese say they had nothing do with the hackers, the next salvo in an international war? we'll have to see. >> david mackenzie, thank you very much. appreciate it. ahead on "starting point," a colorado university is giving coeds advice on how to protect themselves against attackers, involves vomiting on them, claiming have you soyou have so

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good morning, welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans. minding your business, futures flat. but stocks inching closer to the

record highs. a new five-year high. 128 points from the record. google, an $800 stock. the highest price since they began trading. some are calling it the new apple. apple and google, look like opposites over the last six months. apple is tanking. google is surging, up 20%ory the same time. and more people using smartphones than ever before. google doing fairly well in the retail market with new line of products. a lot of other people say christine, will it recover? will are recover? >> you tell them? >> a lot like it.

>> what is the average number of apple products that the average family has? five. >> in new york it's five. but in a big swath of the country, not as big. >> android, a much bigger share of the market. our team this morning as i mentioned, mickey sherman with us. josh barro also with us. this story out of the university of colorado at colorado springs. website post, where they telco eds to defend themselves against sexual assault. scream loudly, run, and use passive resistance techniques like vomiting, you're naturing, telling your attacker you have a disease. after an uproar from students, the university apologized, saying that the list came from a rape defense class and is taken out of context. >> it was part of a really

supplemental information intended for women who had completed a self-defense class on campus that we call r.a.d. >> now, r.a.d. stands for rape aggression defense and corporal lisa davinsky teaches the class and says she stands by these suggestions. >> if you can use anything to your advantage to say you are going to urinaturinate, that yo going to have a disease, that you are immenmenstruating. you could get a perpetrator that is disgusted by one of these things and that could mean that they walk away. >> there was run and scream, and then there was this list of here are all of the other things you can do to freak out of your attacker. >> if you find yourself pinned down, do everything you can.

i remember getting the same advice. >> don't ever, ever, ever get in a vehicle. >> don't go to a different location no, matter what. your chances of survival. -- in a way, as crazy as it sounds, i guess it's do what you can to survive. >> but an attacker, you know, look and i'm not expert on this kind of violence, but an attacker is attacking for other reasons, reasons of power. i don't know if you know what's in the mind of an attacker. >> obviously you've defended and prosecutors people on both sides. does this advice sound crazy? >> not at all. the one that people are upset, be passive. let it go on and let it happen if your life is in danger, don't endanger your life. that's what they are saying. you don't have to prove that the victim didn't put up a fight. if there is no narcs on the victim, she must have agreed to it. that went on maybe 70 years ago.

juries are sophisticated to know that people can't put up a fight. >> there is a sense if you didn't put up a fight that you are not actually being raped. >> that has gone away. >> interesting. wow, again, same advice we got 20 some odd years ago. >> 25 years ago in my case. also, the russian government shifting its stance on the suspicious stance of a little boy adopted in this country. live to moscow with the latest details on that. and the vice president, joe biden, shoots from the lip about guns, we'll tell you what he told one woman. not exactly what you would expect. and then take a look at this the sea otter, yes, he shoots, he scores. watching starting point, back in a moment. c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see,

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half hour that's starting to rip holes in the murder case against olympian oscar pistorius. the lead investigator making shocking revelations. t first, they found two boxes of testosterone and needles in pistorius' home. and secondly that the bullets were pointed directly at the toilet. the defense has battled back this a hearing under way right now. the defense says that the boxes police found were not testosterone, a legal, herbal medicine, got the investigator to admit he wasn't sure it was testosterone and admitted he's not opposed to giving pistorius bail and not sure if he had a house italy. he just heard that he did, on top of all that. he said he entered the crime scene without protective covers on his shoes because they had run out of them. we are joined live by robyn

curnow in south africa. you told us yesterday he was practically falling apart during testimony. >> we have a cnn producer inside the courtroom. feeding me messages on my blackberry. he has definitely stopped crying, with good reason as his defense team has punched holes, hammered the investigating officer in terms of the evidence the state has. i was reading a tweet from a journalist colleague of mine in the court. she says something a senior investigators in a murder case should avoid saying at all costs is i don't have any facts. that's something he said. oscar's family have been smiling at times and a sense of general positivity and upbeatness at the

moment. if you are one of oscar's supporters. >> robyn curnow in pretoria. we get a sense that tide was turned. yesterday he was practically heaving and they had to stop the proceedings for him to get a fwrip. now you hear the investigator, not only reversing himself or admitting things he didn't know, where he says i don't have facts. which in an american courtroom would be the beginning of the end of the trial. >> this isn't the trial. >> so it doesn't matter at all? >> the only things that makes a difference is if the state or government allows him to go on bail. this is not the trial i was. interesting that the investigator is being so candid and hoens. not a jury, it's a judge. and judges can very often be more aligned to the prosecution. >> they asked the -- they asked the prosecutor did he tell the family he would support bail?

he said it twice apparently. once and then they asked him to clarify. he has said. what does that do for this case? >> that's major. whenever you can get the law enforcement people or victims's family to agree to no bail or bail rather, that's a major development. >> we'll keep watching this story. another story we're following, talking about yesterday as well. russian officials backing away the comments he made regarding a 3-year-old boy adopted by an american couple out of russia. investigators in west texas say the death of little max was suspicious. yesterday, russia's children's rights commissioner said the boy had been beaten and abused. today he changed his wording to say that the police are investigating how the kid died. is he he is demanding the return of his younger brother, adopted by the couple as well. >> soledad, yes. russian officials are pretty angry about what they say was a delay in the u.s. state

department informing them about the death of the 3-year-old max. they say it should have happened within 24 hours. instead, they found out one month later and it wasn't from the state department. it was through other channels. they backed away from some of the stronger language. they initially said this boy was killed, murdered and gave some details of the abuse he was said to have suffered. they now accept this is still being investigated. no one has been charged. but they very much want that to happen. brushing for prosecution and want someone to be punished severely this is being driven politically by politicians who now say it proves russia was absolutely right in implementing a ban preventing u.s. families from adopting any more russian children, soledad. >> right to john berman with a look at the day's other stories. police in orange county california, trying to figure out why a college student went on a shooting and carjacking spree tuesday during the morning commute.

three people killed, three others injured. the suspect, ali syed, killed himself when police closed in. >> a shotgun recovered when the suspect apparently shot himself. there may be other weapons involved. it's still an ongoing active investigation. >> syed, 20 years old. lived with his parents, had no criminal record. his first victim was a woman he shot several times in his home. not clear what their relationship was. today, vice president joe biden and attorney general eric hold lever present the medal of valor to officers who put their lives on the line to save others. the vice president working to advance new gun control legislation, including a possible assault weapons ban, not opposed to americans keeping a shotgun for protection. in fact, he recommends a .12 gauge model. >> if you want to protect yourself, get a double barrel shotgun, have the shells, o

of .12-gauge shotgun and put the double barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house. i promise you, whoever is coming in is not going to -- you don't need an ar-15. >> move over h & m. the post office is launching its own clothing line. it's called rain, heat, and snow, reference to the unofficial motto. the post office is losing billions over the last several years. post office clothing, i tone kno tonight know if it will help that. >> do you think it's statement that the post office wears now? >> it may be a little more fashionable. not that there is anything wrong what they wear now. portland trailblazer scouts may be headed to the oregon zoo. look at eddie, the slam dunking

sea otter. the zookeepers trained him to dunk a basketball to get exercise for his arthritic elbow. he has lived at the oregon zoo 13 years. rescued off the coast of california. abandoned as a pup. eddie is awesome. >> his agent is right off camera. >> that's right. >> that's much more entertaining than anything about the sequester. i want to watch that over and over again. >> new information to share with you about adam lanza. the young man behind the massacre in newtown, connecticut. the family talked about their impressions of lanza. >> there was a weirdness about him. and nancy warned me at one of the scout meetings, she said just so you know and i know you wouldn't do this, but just so you know, don't touch adam. i go, well, i wouldn't touch him. no, i mean not like that.

like don't do an atta boy thing or shake his hand and say, way to go, brother. she says he just can't stand that. >> frank cohen is the writer and producer of "raising adam lanza." walk me through some of the biggest revelations about this young man that so few people really seem to have insight on his life. what did you learn about him? >> i think the thing that we learned most about him is -- is how strange a child he was and how -- though he committed a truly monstrous act, there was nothing monstrous about him growing up. he was exactly the opposite. meek, fearful of the world. very easily spooked by things that you and i would find completely unremarkable. and it doesn't jive with somebody who then walks into an elementary school and starts spraying gunfire all over the place. so something -- something happened late in his life that

caused a drastic snap. and what that is, is the question that's still unanswered. >> no one has really heard from adam lanza's father, peter lanza, or sat down with his brother. two people close with him but have a very abrupt split with him around 2010, right? >> exactly. peter lanza wouldn't speak with us. but somebody that was close with him, confirmed to our partners at the "hartford courant." peter and adam split in 2010 and it was adam's initiative. but what it was that brought about the split is, again, a mystery. >> you worked with hartford "courant" reporters, and they talk about sensory intefwrags issues. adam, age six, diagnosed with a condition that made it difficult for him to manage and respond to sights, touch, and smell, eventually struggled in the

first grade at his new school, sandy hook elementary. his mother with respond, touching off a ten-year educational shuffles with moves in and out of schools and programs that addressed his sensory integration disorder. how much of his problem was a sensory integration disorder or asperger's, and how much of a problem is what seemed to be his mother trying to figure out the solution, putting him in school, pulling him out and eventually he seemed very isolated. >> that's a very good question and a hard one to answer. and they are intimately related. they had these problems throughout his life and his mother struggled on what to do about it. and sadly in retrospect, she seems to have taken on that burden pretty much by herself. not a lot of record of her having consulted with professionals or gotten professional treatment for adam, so she did what she thought was

best without clearly knowing what that was. and it created a great deal of instability in his life. and adam was not a person who tolerated instability or change very well. >> a fascinating look at a young man that so many people are trying to understand. frank cohen, writer and producer of "raising adam lanza" thank you. >> thank you. a popular r & b artist with songs all about love. keith sweat is turning that into a relationship book. he will join us live, next.

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olo oladipo to victory. magic johnson, part of the broadcast team, compared oladipo to michael jordan and dwyane wade. for the first time in 22 years, indiana beats michigan state on the road. boy, oh, boy. joe johnson the hero for the brooklyn nets last night. he hit not one, but two shots to help his team win in overtime again. that three-pointer forced overtime and then back to john in overtime. he nails this shot for the ball game. the nets, 5-0 in overtime. nba best 10-0 in overtime last season. a bet a bar bet started this this drummond, wisconsin. makeshift barstools race in the snow. use anything around the house you can find, attach it to a bar school and then race to the

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welcome back, everybody. taking a look at the top trends online the same hackers who took over burger king's twitter feed might be behind a similar attack on jeep for about hours. they gave the automaker a new motto, jeep, just empty every pocket. the company was sold by cadillac, the logo was replaced by the cadillac logo. whole lot of people were watching talking about the british drama "downtown abbey." it drew in a record 8.2 million viewers sunday, many venting their frustration, if you're in charge of that show that's a good thing. the network's third season had a regular viewership four times of pbs's regular average. >> i'm not convinced. is it worth the investment of my time to try to catch up?

>> yes. >> as soon as i get a live i'll watch "downtown abbey." >> it's an interesting trend i think that now you can get these shows and watch them in a two-day window. >> this is the thing netflix has done with "house of cards" and a lot of my friends hunkered down innier bedrooms and watched the whole thing. >> did they hunker down, watch it and love it? >> the win is if people are signing up for netflix subscriptions to get this. remains to be seen if they'll make money off it. they're making high quality product. >> doesn't it shift the social media in "downtown abbey" don't you lose the water cooler aspect if everybody's watching it over the weekend? >> it's the new water cooler aspect. people are not going online and using social media because they don't want to know.

♪ la, la, la, la, la >> like calling in sick from work because you don't want to find out who shot j.r. >> you have to wait before you can talk about what's happened, people say you spoiled it, people are like if you didn't want a spoiler you should have watched it by now. tiger woods is impressed with the president's short game, the world second ranked golfer and the commander in chief teed up in florida sunday. here is how tiger described the game coming together. >> yeah, he calls up and said hey, tiger, you want to play? obviously there is a process that's involved, and i was invited to play and it was an invitation that certainly you don't turn down. playing with mr. president was pretty cool. he's just a wonderful person to be around and we won. >> we won. no shocker exactly that the

tiger woods/president obama duo defeated ron kirk and the houston astros owner jim crane. as for the president's game, tiger says the president has amazing touch, chipping and putting. >> he was actually gushing about the president's game. he said if the president had time to work on his game more he would really develop. >> he did nwhat a great second tiger woods, a man so far down in his shoes and look he's now golfing with the president. >> although the president won't allow pictures to be taken of it so back to an extent. >> i think that's the president's vanity of having a crappy game. >> oscar pistorius' bail hearing was contentious this morning, the defense and the prosecution giving different versions of what happened the day that pistorius' girlfriend was murdered. we'll have the details at the top of the hour. one of the most popular shows on tv right now, alex karpovsky who plays ray on "girls" will join us live, that's ahead.

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welcome everybody. our "starting point," bombshells in court from shocking testimony revealed in the oscar pistorius murder case including testosterone found on the scene allegedly and was there a home in italy? is any of it true? the defense starting to blow huge holes in the case. we're live outside the court with the developing detail this is morning. dogs searching for one missing person after an explosion blows the roof off of a kansas city restaurant. 14 people injured. a winter storm slamming california and the southwest dumping up to eight inches of snow. it is where the storm is headed you will want to pay attention to. a sports stadium is getting a new name and not named after a company, it's named after a prison, sort of. you got to hear this. packed show this morning. walter t. shaw will join us to

talk about that daring diamond heist that took place in bell july. he's a jewel thief. also erskine bowles about the new plan revealed yesterday to fix the debt and alex karpovsky from the hit show "girls" will be with us. it's wednesday, february 20th and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. our team this morning, josh barrow, blogger, mickey sherman, john berman sticks around as well. the incredible testimony we've been hearing and following out of south africa in the oscar pistorius case. no decision yet on whether or not pistorius will in fact get bail. it continues tomorrow morning, 4:00 a.m. our time, 11:00 a.m. in south africa. today the defense started to rip holes in the case presented against pistorius and they now say that he was arrested for no reason, that it might be a malicious prosecution, could be

wrongful arrest. talk about coming out swinging as far as the defense goes. let's go first to robyn curnow outside the courthouse in pretoria, south africa, to break down some of the latest developments. good morning, robyn. >> reporter: one cnn producer inside the courtroom has been sending me messages on my blackberry and says oscar pistorius is now sitting upright, seems more confident. he's not bent over, heaving, sobbing with tears as we know he's been doing throughout this bail application and he perhaps has good reason to be confident because his defense team seems to have punched holes into the evidence put across by the senior investigating officer in this case. number of points that he made and submitted as evidence have been literally hammered down by oscar's team. he basically admitted he didn't have any facts. he also said that he conceded to a lawyer close to the family that he didn't think bail should be opposed, and more importantly, he also conceded

that he didn't disagree with oscar's version of events. so we'll see just how much this impacts on the magistrate's decision. back to you. >> thanks, robin, appreciate the update. let's walk through this case. i recognize that this is an early presentation of what they know, but as robyn points out when someone says i don't know the facts and that is the prosecutor who is going to be prosecuting, presenting the case before a single judge -- the investigator, excuse me, presenting before a judge, how much does that damage the case that's going to follow? >> i think it's death to the government's case. i mean he doesn't oppose bail, which is amazing, he has an opinion on that, but then he says he doesn't disbelieve what pistorius said, game over. call the next case. >> i think we need to take a step back here. there's this quote about we don't have any facts. he shot this woman several times. nobody disputes that, and so the idea that this is a wrongful prosecution, the investigation

is ongoing and there's going to have to be a lot of evidence uncovered but the idea that you wouldn't arrest this guy who shot his girlfriend through a bathroom door with this sort of bizarre story about how he thought she was an intruder, it sounds like overreach to me. >> let's walk through what we've learned in day two of the hearing. i'm surprised they've gone now, they'll go into a third day without deciding on bail. it will resume tomorrow morning 4:00 our time. here's what they learned, the prosecution said that two boxes of testosterone and needles were found in the house, they said shots had to be fired at an angle in order to hit the toilet, you wouldn't fire straight through the door, you'd have to aim for the toilet and pistorius has offshore homes and accounts in italy. the defense said it was a legal herbal medication and still being tested so how could the prosecution claim it to be

testosterone. they said any ammunition taken from the home belonged to pistorius' father, the prosecution never attempted to figure out who actually owned it and that that offshore account is dormant and there is no house in italy, which the prosecution eventually, the investigator eventually admitted that he just had heard it. and then there's more details that i thought were interesting. reeva steenkamp found dressed white shorts and a black vest by the time she died so if she got out of bed and went to the bathroom, fully dressed? >> maybe that's the way she was sleeping. >> in shorts and a vest on valentine's night? >> it's valentine's night. >> i don't know. okay. and then the defense claiming that the door that was locked, right, that was the $64,000 question, why would someone who is going to the bathroom lock the door in the house where they were staying, they said that when oscar screamed for help that she locked the door, that's

the defense' take on this. there's no signs on her body of any kind of assault which would throw out any kind of idea that they were fighting physically in an altercation beforehand, and then there's a question over the distance for the nearest home because there were reports of noise and screaming, but when they tried to figure out the distance between and the neighbors reporting it, it was quite far. >> the two most interesting facts that are pertinent to the murder case itself are the distance of the neighbors who claim they heard fighting for an hour before anywhere between 300 meters and 600 meters depending on who you believe, a big distance and the investigators conceding there were no marks of any kind on reeva steenkamp's body. the other information about the testosterone and house in italy they are tertiary, only deal with the bail hearing itself and that may be why the defense is so eager to poke holes in them because they have something they can refute. doesn't get to the issue of

killing or not killing. >> don't they get to the issue of whether or not investigators botched the case? the defense is trying to make the investigators seem like they have screwed up in a number of ways. >> we always do that, it's part of our job. it's like number three on the criminal defense lawyers handbook. this is the worst investigation i've ever seen in my life, i can't believe the police were so shoddy. >> the goal is to make the judge later say i could believe some of the stuff is not as presented. >> they're also appealing to the court of world opinion. this case will be tried and heard in public so they're trying to get as much public support for this man as possible. >> i think it's worth to remember we're talking about an incident that happened six days ago so it's not surprising that the investigation would be somewhat disorganized. now they'll have a lot of time before they go to trial. >> not wearing protective booties, that's like investigation 101. >> they shouldn't be admitting they didn't know the facts. >> even that on the stand itself is incredibly compelling. in any case, the third day of

the bail hearing continues and that will start tomorrow, 4:00 a.m. our time, 11:00 in the morning in south africa. >> other stories making news and john has an update on that. >> we're continuing to follow a developing story out of kansas city, one person unaccounted for, following an explosion that leveled a restaurant there. the woman is an employee of j.j.'s restaurant. rescuers and cadaver dogs are combing through the rubble. on "early start" kansas city's mayor says they're still trying to determinectly what >> can't say for sure it was a gas explosion although there's certainly some evidence that might support that but again we don't want to speculate. there was certainly an issue of gas involved in the incident. >> cnn's ted rowlands in live in kansas city. ted, what is the latest? >> reporter: john, they'll resume the search for this missing employee of j.j.'s restaurant in the next few minutes. they wanted to wait until the sun came out so that it would be more safe. they're bringing in some heavy equipment to move some debris

out and then they will bring the cadaver dogs back in to help with their search. this explosion took place at 6:00 last night at this very popular restaurant in kansas city, and you could imagine, when you look at those pictures how bad it could have been, with people seated in the restaurant. luckily the smell of the natural gas had been permeating the area for upwards of an hour so there weren't very many people in the restaurant at the time of the explosion. in fact, just a few minutes before the explosion people were cleared out, about 15 people got out of the restaurant and got to about three blocks away before they turned around and saw the restaurant blow up. >> so lucky for so many they did have that warning. ted rowlands in kansas city. another big city of a massive winter storm brewing, a large part of the country under a winter storm watch with the system expected to drop snow, rain or ice over 16 states affecting millions from california all the way to arkansas. let's get to jennifer delgado

tracking the system from the cnn weather center in atlanta. >> hi, john. we're calling this our triple threat for weather, and this is going to be going on through tomorrow. i want to point out to you the areas we're watching, two yards of some sn areas of snow and storms setting up later into the evening across parts of texas. yes snow is the big story. we're going to see a system coming out of the four corners and that is going to combine with the system right now affecting parts of texas as well as oklahoma. you can see where the snow is from south of oklahoma city up towards interstate 70. this is just the beginning. as we go later into the evening, especially in the overnight hours as well as into tomorrow morning we are going to see significant snowfall in addition to a lot of freezing rain out there and some of these locations we could see accumulations of ice between one half and three-quarter inch and for the snow more than a foot of snowfall for areas including salina, wichita, even kansas city could pick up six to eight

inches of snowfall. combine the winds could be bad for power lines and trees. lot out there. triple trouble. >> a lot of the places in the country need to get ready. thank you very much. china's military issuing a strong denial this morning claiming it is not launching cyber attacks out of a 12-story building in shanghai or from anywhere else for that the mare. report from u.s. cyber security firm mandiant claims since 2006 a hacking collective with direct ties to the chinese military has stolen data from 141 organizations around the world, and there was some tense moments today when a cnn crew tried to take pictures in that shanghai neighborhood they found themselves being chased by security officers. amazing pictures. a body found in a rooftop water tank has been identified. 21-year-old eliza lam was a tourist from canada, last seen at the hotel in downtown l.a. nearly three weeks ago her body found last night after people in the hotel complained their water

pressure was low. police say they are not sure if foul play was involved, although obviously questions remain how you end up in a water tank. after more than two years florida atlanta university's football stadium finally has a name, called geo group stadium after this, get this, the nation's largest operator of for-profit prisons, they made a $6 million donation from the company's charitable foundation. so they have a stadium in florida named after prisons, if they're willing to pay. >> that's what they fund and they wrote the check. still ahead on unbelievable diamond heist plays out like a movie, happened in belgium, involves maybe $350 million worth of diamonds, crooks dressed as cops, sounds like "oceans 11." walter shaw is a former jewel thief himself, he'll tell us how they did it. >> it's a highly anticipated debut, sony is unveiling its new

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experts say a stunning diamond heist was an side job. an audi drove off with $50 million in jewels. eight men in two cars burst through a fence and drove onto the tarmac at brussels international airport, they were disguised as police, stole 120 bags of uncut diamonds. not a single shot was fired. here's what the spokesperson at the brussels airport had to say. >> the operation at the airport has taken exactly three minutes so this was a very quick hit and run, very well organized. we can only conclude these people were very well aware of what they were doing, what they were looking for. >> inside job many say. walter t. shaw is former jewel

thief and leader of a crime gang that stole as much as $70 million in the late 6 '50s a'60 '70s and producer of an upcoming movie "genius on hold." i want your take on what happened in brussels, brussels airport obviously is a gateway but also very well guarded. what details of this crime that we now know give you clues about who pulled it off? >> well, it's similar to what they did many years at the luhafer heist in new york, jfk, laguardia, i can't remember now, so many years, similar pattern. those diamonds passed through so many hands when you think about loading on the plane, it was like it wasn't a secret. there had to be a manifest, all the way back to when they loaded the plane and unloaded it at the airport that gives you clues right there it's definitely, they knew what they were going for, 120 bags, it's no accident.

there was no coincidence so they knew what they were targeting with the efficiency of being in and out within five, six minutes. it tells you right there. >> there are some people who said that you had some connection maybe to that lufthansa heist in 1988. you want to comment on that? >> no, no comment only the fact that i was reportedly supposed to be with the lucasey family and that's the only coincidence in that situation. >> in that particular case and as you point out there are some similarities, it was cracked because of a van that was supposed to be disposed of was never disposed of. they went inside the van and could find fingerprints. is there anything in this case in brussels that would make you say this could help them crack this crime? >> the fact they dressed as policemen, knew how they were going to do this, i'm sure they rehearsed it several times, they

knew where they were going when they cut the hole in the fence and targeted where they were looking for and got it and gone within five or six minutes so they knew what they were doing. >> i heard it was three minutes starred to finish. >> yes. >> since you've been in the game a bit, what kind of practice runs do you do to make sure -- that's coordination, right? that's some kind of choreography and how long does that take to rehearse that so you can pull it off? >> i think they did this for weeks and i think they were on a clock absolutely, all the way through they were on a clock. even when they rehearsed they were on a clock that's why they knew three minutes was there where they had to be to pull this off. >> eight people, which is pretty big if you think about it. does it make you feel someone is going to crack and that might be a way to figure out, that will be the leak there that one of eight people is bound to slip or make a mistake? >> you know the old adage a fish wouldn't get caught if you have an open mouth, when you have

that many partners you've got it be worried. >>. >> i've seen it before, it's very mobesque. how easy is it to get rid of the diamonds? are they already on the market? >> i think they unloaded them, they knew where they unloaded them and you're talking about $50 million a lot of partials and trust when you're unloading that to one guy. make sure he gave you a hefty deposit downstroke. >> do you think they'll get caught? >> i do. we never did commercial jobs. we did estate homes, never ventured into commercial because it's like the great train robbery, they all get caught sooner or later. >> can i ask you about the movie. >> yes. >> how did you go from jewel thief to movie producer? >> when i got out of prison i hooked one a kid by the name of mickey rourke at the time and mickey introduced me into the business and i wanted to tell my dad's story and wanted to learn how to be a producer to keep control of the content of the

story being told right and not being swayed either way and that's how i got into this. >> walter t. shaw, i'm looking forward to it. >> it's a great film. >> sounds like it. >> comes out on friday. >> he's also the author of "a license to steal" and he's a former jewel thief for the mafia. quite a resume you have going. it's great to have you, thanks, we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me on. i appreciate it very much. >> you bet. still ahead on "starting point" this morning, gamers are rejoicing as sony is set to unveil a new playstation in a couple of hours. we'll have details on new features coming up next. with y to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

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it will unveil its next generation video game console this afternoon already dubbed playstation 4. one of feature also allow users to play games streamed over the overnet as well as on discs. the biggest criticism it relies too much on your internet connection. smartphones could be used as controllers for some games and that the controller itself may include a touch pad and a light that could add some motion-based functionality, expected to go on sale in the fall. seven years after the launch of play station3, dallasnews.com says sources say there will be two models priced at 429 and 529 bucks. the anticipation in the blogosphere is incredibly happiness. >> that's why you play it at work because you have a good t1 connection as opposed to your not great internet connection at home. >> this is a huge deal, sony ceded to the wii and xbox.

>> is it too late? >> it depends on the product. they've been so secretive what's in it. >> very secretive. still ahead on "starting point" the u.s. facing drastic forced budget cuts in nine days if congress doesn't act. what do they need to do? erskine bowles has an update. and the homeless man who returned the engagement ring dropped in his cup accidentally, how he's doing ahead, back in just a moment. it's post shredde. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits and more taste in your bowl. it's the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. try post shredded wheat.

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from hyundai. at university of phoenix we know the value of your education is where it can take you. (subway announcer; "now arriving at city hospital") which is why we're proud to help connect our students with leading employers across the nation. (subway announcer: "next stop financial center") let's get to work. good morning, everybody. explosive testimony in oscar pistorius's bail hearing the second day. the court hased ajumped for the day, they'll resume tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. eastern time and a ruling on bail for the olympic track star is expected at that time.

this morning pistorius' defense shot some big holes in the prosecution's case. they are also now claiming that he's been arrested for no reason, say they're considering malicious prosecution charges, wrongful arrest claims as well and then there was some shocking revelations from the lead police investigator in the case. first that they found two boxes of testosterone and needles in pistorius' house and next the gunshots were specifically aimed at the toilet where she was sitting not randomly in the area of the bathroom and also that pistorius was considered a flight risk because he has a house in italy, and offshore bank accounts. the defense battled back, they say those boxes police found were not testosterone, they were a legal herbal medicine, the ammunition found in the home belonged to pistorius' father the offshore bank account is dormant and there is no house in italy. number of issues i think both sides got some very important and in some ways damning

evidence out. let's talk first what she was wearing. some earlier reports say she was fully clothed in a vest and shorts but it looks by other reports it wasn't a vest, it was more of a tank top. >> shorts and a tank top. depends on how you read the language they use in south africa, shorts and a tank top makes more sense to sleep in that. >> the question was there some fight she was departing and was she fully dressed to leave and that would explain what the prosecution is alleging or had she gotten out of bed and pistorius had no idea and then -- >> investigators say there were no signs of a struggle. investigators say no signs on her body -- >> no assault other than the gunshot but there were no signs of a struggle at all, no marks, no nothing. >> from the prosecution's side, indications that the angle of trajectory of the bullets into the bathroom, we talked about that earlier, according to the prosecution if you were firing at the door you wouldn't hit the

toilet. you would fire straight through to the bathroom but if you were going, in order to hit the toilet you had to aim that direction but then there's also the angle at which that, those shots were fired. >> investigators suggesting the angle was downward indicating that pistorius would have had to put on his prosthetic limbs before he made the shots, that would indicate some sort of premeditation. the defense's case is that pistorius fired the shots before he put his prosthetics on. >> the head investigator does not disagree with pistorius' version. >> he says he has no evidence that would necessarily dispute pistorius' version of the case. >> that angle would be evidence that disputes his version. the reason it matters is the fact he didn't have his prosthetic legs on gives an atmosphere of fear. he felt afraid, why he grabbed his gun and made his way the best he could to the bathroom. it changes the story if they can prove -- >> you're relying on csi:

johannesburg. and they admit they don't have a lot of hearing. >> this is a bail hearing, isn't a trial, it isn't a long careful plotting. this is the early days of the investigation and we're getting little pieces of it, some of it contradictory all at once as they decide whether he should be allowed to come home. >> this will be brought up in trial. >> would this happen in the u.s., so much information flying around so early? >> no, except for florida. our other top story is the russian's children's right commissioner calling for a ban on international adoptions following the death of the 3-year-old adopted russian boy. russia's demanding the return of his brother curiel, adopted to

texas with the same family. eli elise, state department officials have a lot to deal with. >> soledad they do. they maintain they try to help facilitate meeting between russian diplomats and authorities in texas but they're in a tight spot. this is another case of a russian child adopted in the u.s. that they have to explain, and even as they try to get these 500 pending adoptions through the system in the face of this russian law banning u.s. adoptions, and soledad i don't think the state department is really of one mind here, because some officials feel the russians have rushed to judgment making wild, irresponsible allegations that this boy was murdered. others are saying look, we see their point. you have 20 russian children now who have died under suspicious circumstances with american families and while that's a small percent age of the overal adoptions in the u.s. it's unacceptable. >> elise labott, thanks. other stories making news,

john? >> first news about the pope just in to cnn, a spokesperson for the vatican says pope benedict is considering issuing a decree that would move up the date of the conclave, that's where cardinals from around the world meet to choose the pope's successor. current church rules call for the conclave to start march 15th but this decree could speed up the process. the rules in place deals with a pope dying. with the pope not dying things could happen faster. senator john mccain getting an earful at a town hall meeting near phoenix. >> this is an orwellian experience. i've had enough, sir. we've had enough. >> i retired -- >> we've had enough time. >> talking about his illegal immigration bill and some people in his home state are not happy. some residents called for strict deportation programs which mccain opposes. mccain is one of eight senators from both parties working on an

immigration plan. he says the white house promised to cooperate. mccain an expert at town meetings, never a good idea to cross him there. new york city residents with pistol permits can request their identities be removed from public records under the city's new gun control law. handgun owners can explain why they don't want their personal information kept private and cops say in most cases the request will be granted. a homeless man returned an engagement ring a missouri woman put in his cup. give forward web page has raised more than $14,000 now for billy ray harris. $10,000 of it since she appeared on "starting point" to tell us the amazing story. the number will likely keep climbing. the fund-raiser does not end until may 15th. >> such great news. they sent me a note after they did the interview with us the amount of money in that fund

doubled and so it's been climbing ever since. >> how much is that lady in the bus case get? >> 600 i think. >> ended up more than $600,000. >> i think she bought a state. >> i don't know about that but certain it ended up giving her some money that she can do whatever she wants with now. we're just about eight days away from $85 billion and across the board for spending cuts taking place. no solution in sight, some familiar figures are stepping in and offering their own plans. yesterday democratic businessman erskine bowles and alan simpson unveiled an updated version of their budget plan from 2010 that failed and before the forum began, protesters were voicing their outrage. >> i'm sorry, sir. >> tax refunds, can you tell us that?

>> so it kind of started off a little bit messily e.r.a. skins bowles is the co-founder of the campaign to fix the debt. nice to have you with us sir. what was going through your mind when the protesters before you got under way were already arguing about it. did it make you feel like dealing with this issue is going to be tougher than it has been which has been very, very, very tough? >> no. we know it's going to be tough. look, the problems are real. the solutions are all painful. there's no easy way out and we got to make sure that we're sensitive to the needs of all americans. we got to do this in the right way and that's what we tried to put forward is a balanced plan. luckily we got a chance to explain it to those people and i think they understand better now. >> walk us through it now. we know version 2.0 as we can call it is a total of $2.4 trillion from the deficit. walk me through some of the provisions of it. we have it up on the screen as well. >> it's $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction, that's in step one, a

quarter of that comes from fundamental reform of the tax code, simplify the code and make us more globally competitive and hopefully therefore to create jobs and growth. second comes from reforming health care policies in the u.s. so we can slow the rate of growth of health care to the rate of growth of the economy and then a quarter comes from cuts into various domestic discretionary budget plus the other mandatory part of the budget and lastly, we do go to more accurate gauge of inflation, the change in cpi and we have some interest savings as a result of this. all of that combined together reduces the debt down below 70% of gdp and the good news is, it keeps it on a downward path so it puts our fiscal house in order. it means my generation won't be the first generation of americans to leave this country worse off than we found it. >> let's focus for a moment on

the $600 billion in new tax revenue. here is what john boehner said in an op-ed for "the wall street journal," "the president got his higher taxes, $600 billion from higher earners, with no spending cuts at the end of 2012. he also got higher taxes via obama care. meanwhile no one should be talking about raising taxes when the government is paying people to play video games, giving folks free cellphones and buying $47,000 cigarette-smoking machines." doesn't seem he'll embrace part one, $600 million in new tax revenue. >> soledad to get this done this was clear at the end of last year, we're going to have to push both sides out of their comfort zone, the republicans are going to have to accept more revenue, the democrats are going to have to accept more cuts in our health care spending. that's the only way we can reach a compromise that solves our long-term deficit problem. if you look at the fundamental

changes we want to make in the tax code, we have about $1.2 trillion worth of back door spending in the tax code every ye year. that's why we only net about $1.2 trillion in total income taxes coming into the country from individuals and corporations. what we want to do is wipe as many of those out as possible and to use the vast majority of them to reduce income tax rates but to use about $500 billion more to reduce the deficit. if you think about it, you know, if we've got $1.2 trillion worth of annual spending in the tax code of these tax expenditures, over ten years that will add up when you add in inflation to $13 trillion, $14 trillion and we only want to use $500 billion of it to reduce the deficit, that's a very good trade for people to make, that's a smart thing to do to put our fiscal house in

order. >> the democrats will be out of their comfort zone when it comes to health care cuts and you're mentioning specifically cuts to social security as well. some described it as the third rail, anybody who does that can expect to pay for it later down the line in any re-election campaign. >> i don't question the fact that it's politically difficult. all we're doing is making social security sustainably solvent so it will be there for the people that need it. we do things on our planet, increase the minimum payment to 125% of poverty, we get people between 81 and 86 a 1% per year annual bump up so that's when most private pension plans run out. again we got to make some of the changes that we propose if, in fact it's going to survive. let me give you one example. we recommend changing the retirement age one year 40 years from now and one more year, 65

years from now, and we even take a portion of the people, about 20% of the people who have the back-breaking jobs and we give them a hardship provision that allows them to still get social security at 62. by doing things like that, we can make social security sustainably solvent but if we don't make those kind of small changes we'll never get there and it will go broke, at least by 2031. >> and by the way, eight days away from these massive spending cuts hitting. erskine bowles co-founder of the campaign to fix the debt, also the co-chair of the national commission on fiscal responsibility and reform. nice to have you with us this morning. we appreciate your time. >> thank you so much. >> you bet. still ahead on "starting point," fender benders never good but there's one town where they're going to be especially costly. we'll explain why straight ahead. he's one of many men on the show "girls" alex karpovsky who plays ray will join us live.

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welcome back. so just when you thought the government had run out of things to tax, missouri city, texas, which is a houston suburb, which has a big budget problem, has decided to start charging a crash tax.

next month drivers will pay up to $2,000 for road service depending on how bad their wreck is even if they don't call for help. if they have a crash they send the tow truck to keep the traffic going. >> if there is a state or city expenditure they may have something going there. it's an awful big burden on somebody in an accident. we got in a family car accident when i was 6 in vermont, we hit a guardrail and i remember my father having to pay for the guardrail that was dented. >> oh really? >> yes. >> it seems a little expensive and maybe not his fault. >> is $2,000 really the cost of this thing? often you see the local governments they say we're going to impose a fee but really it's a back door tax to raise revenue, charge a fee vastly inexcess. >> i like your cynicism and skepticism on the government. >> i thought they're there to serve and protect us, not to charge us. >> a small government, a small town or city government that's a huge burden on them i would imagine. >> municipalities are still feeling the pinch and they have a lot -- they have to triage which services they can give and

can't and even when you have people in washington talking about how they're not going to raise their taxes the taxes are going up at the state and local levels raising fees going to the park, the pool, having a car crash, everything, because they don't have any money. >> interesting. see how it turns out for them to watch that. still ahead on "starting point," he's a man on the hit show "girls" also an accomplished filmmaker with two movies come out this week. alex karpovsky known to fans as ray, going to talk to us next. we're back in a moment. if your tires need to be rotated, you have to get that done as well. jackie, tell me why somebody should bring they're car here to the ford dealership for service instead of any one of those other places out there. they are going to ta care of my car because this is where it came from. price is right no problem, they make you feel like you're a family. get a synthetic blend oil change, tire rotation and much more, $29.95 after $10.00 rebate. if you take care of your car your car will take care of you.

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the title of the hit hbo show might be "girls" but the boys are getting attention, alex karpovsky plays ray, who is having some relationship problems with one of the girls in the show, take a look.

>> it's hard to tell someone so young that things don't always end up the way you thought they'd be. maybe it's weird i'm dating someone so young. >> young girls are great. young girls and older ladies. it's the in betweens that are the problem. >> exactly. women under 18 and over 40 are the best relationships. the young maintains can maintain insecurity which are vulnerable and the older ones don't have these [ bleep ] expectations of what a relationship needs to be. >> alex karpovsky joins us. >> thanks for having me. >> i can't decide if i think ray is interesting and deep and thoughtful or if he's like gross and disgusting in some ways. >> yeah. >> sometimes he really is. what do you think? >> i can't decide either. he tries to walk this line. he's older than most of the characters and he feels some strange obligation to give them advice. >> it's like screwed up, weird, terrible advice at times. >> it's perverse, twisted and

bankrupt but he tries nonetheless. >> did you believe when you were part of the pilot this was going to be a big hit? >> no. it's not because i didn't have faith. i thought it was too narrow in its focus to catch on. that's why i thought it would be a great show because we focus on something specific and raw and authentic. i didn't know if that would have broad appeal. >> it's sort of this sliver of life, a particular young women and their friends and a particular part of manhattan and brooklyn. why do you think it works? >> i don't know if i really know why it works. maybe because the show is grounded in authenticity and i feel a lot of people can relate to the problems. i think the problems in the relationship are universal in nature and maybe people can grab onto that. >> did you awe kigs faudition f? >> i did not. alina is a friend. i worked for as autani

furniture." >> another great movie. >> she brought over myself on to "girls." >> two other movies debuting friday at lincoln center not far from here. >> one is called "rubber neck" a psychological thriller and another one is called "red flag" which is a road comedy, opening up as a double bill thee at rickally on friday. >> "red flag" is what happens in press tours. >> exactly. >> describe that for me. >> i made a movie called "woodpecker" basically do the movie, q&as and report the film. >> the reporters say tell me about your character, what was the movie like. this is how you pitch the movie one after the other is how you do these press tours back-to-back-to-back-to-back. >> exactly right. it could be gruelling and you want to promote yourself and get out there but you could also lose your mind saying the same things all day and in an effort to keep it fun and walk away

with something creative i decided to make the movie during the press tour so "red flag" is basically a film, a meta affair, a film about a guy on tour with a preview film. >> i want to play a clip and we'll talk on the other side. >> one way to maybe help that out is to replace the swear word with a normal, ordinary word, and maybe the swear words can lose their power, and then maybe later on down the road you'll have to replace that word with another word and maybe that word with another word but it might be a good way to you know help with your stress management, you know? right? >> yep. that is the dumbist frittata thing i've heard in my life. >> i love this, having been on the other side of the press tours you've seen people, i've had actors cry, it's hot in the room and it's back-to-back, it's exhausting. >> yeah, in a sense it feels

like interrogation, asking the same questions over and over all day. >> hoping you have a different response that you gave to the other person. >> until you crack but i think the way to keep it interesting is have a different take and maybe make a movie while on the tour. that's how i kept my sanity. >> do you still do standup? >> no, that was a chapter from my early 20s. i dropped out of grad school to become a standup comic which i don't recommend and i did comedic performance art and i basically ran out of jokes and turned to movies. >> how did that and studying anthropology which you did in college play into what you're doing today or is it just wasted time that never paid off? >> i think it's largely a paes of time but you know, one thing they did train us to do is basically examine a culture or group of people and break down their behavior or certain traits into very quantifiable and analytical parts and i guess when i approach a character, when i try to break down a character or try to write a

character sometimes it is helpful to break it down to elementary substances to recombine and make it manageable and engaging. >> friday, two movies debut at lincoln center in manhattan and alex is an actor on "girls" as well, renewed for season three. nice to have you. we appreciate it. we have to take a break. "end point" is up next. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair.

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time for "end point" this morning. where do you want to start? >> with the gentleman in south africa. >> oscar pistorius. >> i don't think it's a slam dunk either way. i think by tomorrow they'll give him bond, attach conditions, maybe travel restrictions but i think they'll let him out. >> you have been on both sides